Films

Today, Gateway wishes a very happy birthday to everyone’s favourite Russian helmsman, Pavel Chekov – or, more to the point, the actor who brought him to life on the big screen and small, across five decades: Walter Koenig. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was keen to add a younger face to his bridge crew, allegedly […]

Stardate 8879.58: A new life form has entered the world. Although there are no signs of any … irregularities, I sense a … strange destiny … for this child. This … boy they call … Bill. Yes, we know we’ve posted this before, but . . . come on: it’s not every day it’s William […]

Much has been written about the trinity at the centre of Star Trek – Kirk, Spock and McCoy – but for some of us, the heart of the show (and certainly of the USS Enterprise) has always been Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott. And, with all due respect to Simon Pegg, who has many fans at […]

On this day, 155 years ago, Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès was born in Paris, and future generations of SF fans were made happy. He was an illusionist and film director, and is renowned as a pioneer of the early days of cinema – particularly in the use of special effects such as time-lapse photography and multuiple exposure. […]

101 years ago today, Raymond Fisher Jones was born in Salt Lake City Utah. A regular contributor to Astounding Stories and Galaxy Science Fiction among other pulp SF magazines, he is best known for the 1952 novel This Island Earth, which was famously filmed in 1955, one of the first major SF films to be […]

Walter Tevis‘s cult classic novel The Man Who Fell to Earth, published in 1963, enjoyed thirteen years of recognition in and of itself before becoming forever linked with (and, let’s face it, submerged beneath) Nicolas Roeg’s 1976 film. You know the one: fellow by the name of David Bowie starred in it. At the risk […]

Last Friday we extolled the virtues of Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle.  On Wednesday, a new film opened in cinemas: The Legend of Tarzan, which prompted an interesting review-cum-Burroughs-retrospective in The Telegraph. Seems like that’s a good time for us to unveil our Gateway Essentials choices for Edgar Rice Burroughs! We’ve written about the grand […]

Readers of a pulpish disposition might have noticed the imminent return of one John Clayton, otherwise known as Viscount Greystoke. He was first seen on these shores 104 years ago and has been a regular visitor since – most recently appearing in 2013. No? Perhaps you know him better by his other name: Tarzan, Lord […]

Our current Masterworks Spotlight comes with a short visual presentation for your entertainment! Childhood’s End is Arthur C. Clarke‘s transcendent masterpiece, the book that shows most clearly the influence of Olaf Stapledon on his writing. Beginning as an alien invasion story (of a sort) and containing one of the all-time great set pieces in written […]

On this day in 1959, Edwin Balmer died in Chicago, Illinois. Although he wrote a number of SF novels and stories – some of which were published in Hugo Gernsback‘s Amazing Stories – his main claim to fame is as co-author, with Philip Wylie, of When Worlds Collide. When Worlds Collide was published in 1933 and, […]

  ‘Oh, the equipment’s guaranteed, but I have my doubts about the stuff inside.’ ‘I don’t know how much more emergency power we can take before we start to break up.’ ‘I was driving starships, while your great-grandfather was still in diapers!’ ‘The best diplomat I know is a fully activated phaser bank.’ ‘I’m givin’ […]

Fox has acquired rights to Joe Hill’s forthcoming novel The Fireman, to be published by Gollancz in hardback on the 7th June 2016. Louis Leterrier (Clash of the Titans, Now You See Me) is said to be down to direct it. Temple Hill partners Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen (the Twilight saga, The Maze Runner, […]

Gollancz Editorial Manager Charlie gives his rundown on the best films of last year, based on UK cinema release dates. Honourable Mentions: Big Hero 6, Sicario, Song of the Sea, Tangerine, Wild 20. Dope (dir. Rick Famuyiwa) Wonderfully energetic and freewheeling, with one of the few good uses of a voiceover in a non-Scorsese film, […]

By Gareth Powell The other night, I watched Lucy, the 2014 film written and directed by Luc Besson. It starred Scarlett Johansson as the titular character: an American student coerced into becoming a drug mule, only to become something much stranger when her body starts absorbing the experimental substance carried in her stomach. In this […]

So you’ve just read or seen The Martian and you’re now having Red Planet withrawal symptoms?  Can’t go another day without more Marsie goodness?  Fear not!  The Gateway doctor is in, and do we have a prescription for you! Whether your chosen medicine is a book set on a scientifically-accurate Mars, a romantic vision of […]